Category Archives: Before and After

The world of foreclosures and rehabs can be very scary but if you have vision and experience you can give a space new life and a chance to make a new family happy. For cost efficiency consider keeping the plumbing in the same place and if that is impossible try to keep it along the original wall. Anytime you can avoid moving utilities it will save you money and sometimes headaches when http://www.tuplapotti.org rehabbing. Details like granite counter tops and sophisticated lighting update this modest 1960’s kitchen. Try using accent furniture pieces for interest and storage.

I’ve seen walls of artfully arranged mirrors before, but they’re usually in public spaces as a form of pure display. Seeing such a dramatic presentation of mirrors in a home bathroom is unexpected, but stunning. I love it! California-based designer Faith Blakeney also had the brilliant idea to attach some of the mirrors with velcro so they could be mixed, matched and pulled down for quick use any time, making this display both elegant and practical. The addition of these mirrors, modern light fixtures and a cleaner, brighter neutral palette has completely transformed this bathroom on a low budget. I love the varied shapes of those old hand mirrors; I’m tempted to start seeking some out right now! — Kate

Time: The hunt for just the right mirrors took about 3 trips to the flea market, plus about an hour to mount the mirrors on the wall and countless hours admiring the mirror wall.

Cost: $10 velcro, around $15 a piece for the hand-held mirrors, $100 for the big ones. Grand Total: $295

Basic Steps:I created a wall of mirrors in the bathroom using an old collection of inherited hand-held mirrors and some thrift store finds. I figured out where I wanted to place each mirror, marked it and put a 2″ velcro strip, vertically, on the wall at each mark. I then put a piece of the other side of the velcro on the back side of each hand-held mirror, again vertically. Lastly, I mounted the mirrors on the wall so they can be taken off and rearranged.

Make sure the surface you are mounting on is very clean and that you use high-quality industrial-strength velcro tape — a broken mirror is a lot of bad luck! I am happy to report that these mirrors have been up for many months without a single problem. — Faith

Dark paint does not necessarily make spaces look smaller. In this case the intense color makes the room inviting and peaceful. A run of duct work that was added along the top of this wall was also painted chocolate, the duct visually vanished into the wall because the intense color is less reflective than a lighter shade would have been.

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Things To Consider When Selling Your Home For Cash

Having trouble determining which "CASH" buyers are really cash buyers and not just middlemen eating into your profits?

What to look out for when selling your home for cash

Seller beware of these As-Is, Cash Buyers:

The "Cashless Cash Buyer"
The "Contractor Guy"
The "Waaaay Out of the Box Buyer"
The "Just a Hair Higher Guy/Call Me Last Buyer"

"Cashless Cash Buyers" that really have NO CASH to purchase your home. There are a lot of these "Cashless Cash Buyers" looking to tie up your houses so they can "flip" it for more money to a real cash buyer!

In order to get you committed and to run off their competition from real cash buyers, these "Cashless Cash Buyers" write offers to purchase or more often write an "OPTION" contract that is usually higher than a legitimate cash buyer.

Since they don't have the cash to close, the "Cashless Cash Buyer" will be shopping your home hoping to "flip" it to real cash buyers like HomesForRehab. "Cashless Cash Buyer" will tell you he needs to show the property to his "contractor", his "insurance" guy. This parade of professionals without business cards are the real cash buyers.

After getting an idea of what a real cash buyer will pay, "Cashless Cash Buyer" will insist on renegotiating the sales price or threaten not to close. Once he beats you down on price "Cashless Cash Buyer" will assign his contract over to a cash buyer for MORE than what he agreed to pay you. Usually it is for A LOT more, when a "Cashless Cash Buyer" finally gets a bite on his hook he is looking for a big fish!

"Cashless Cash Buyer" doesn't even have to show up at the closing. Your home gets sold directly to a buyer you have never met. "Cashless Cash Buyer" will get a check for money that should have gone to you! The title company will cut him a check that very same day you are signing your closing papers.

The other down side of "Cashless Cash Buyer" is that she may use an "Option" contract. An "Option" contract basically means that you have agreed to sell your house to her but "Cashless Cash Buyer" has the "Option" to purchase or property or not. If "Cashless Cash Buyer" can't find a real cash buyer than she is not obligated to buy and the deal is dead.

BUYERS CAN GET OF ANY CONTRACT EVEN IF IT ISN'T AN OPTION CONTRACT! You can sue them and you may win but if they don't have the money-they don't have the money.

This process puts you back at square one, looking for a new "real" cash buyer. By now you have probably already turned down all offers from the "real" cash buyers and will have to invite them back.

Unfortunately by now you owe more real estate taxes, have made more mortgage and insurance payments, incurred more utility expenses and maybe additional repairs that you didnt expect.

"Cashless Cash Buyers" operate on the "Other People's Money" system. You may have even sat through one of the many late night infomercials yourself or heard a radio ad about a real estate boot camp coming to a local hotel banquet room this weekend!

The "Contractor Guy" will claim he can pay more because he is fixing it himself. The "Contractor Guy" will wear his "work clothes", maybe even a tool belt and will arrive in a truck. Even though "Contractor Guy" looks his part and says he buys "AS-IS" homes, he will express huge concerns about your property's condition. "Contractor Guy" is OVERLY CRITICAL in an effort to lower your expectations of what your property is worth. "Contractor Guy" will continue to slam the condition of your property and beating you up on your agreed upon price and threatening not to close until the day of closing.

Unlike "Contractor Guy" it takes A LOT to alarm a real cash buyer. We have seen so many situations in our years of experience there are always enough great things about an AS-IS property to balance out the bad!

"Waaaay Out of the Box Buyer" spews out an endless variety of out of the box ways to sell your property to her. Typically, the "Waaaay Out of the Box Buyer" is a fast talker whose proposals seem to always leave the seller with a great deal of risk. Kinky out of the box deals are the "Waaaay Out of the Box Buyer's" specialty. They may seek seller financing- potentially leaving the seller on the hook with their lender. "Waaaay Out of the Box Buyer" may suggest that you get a percentage of the profits after she rehabs it. Of course the seller has to pay "Waaaay Out of the Box Buyer" for her materials and labor. The "Waaaay Out of the Box Buyer" might even suggest that she be allowed to lease the property to a tenant and make monthly payments to the seller! The "Waaaay Out of the Box Buyer" is always thinking of new out of the box ways to profit! A seller might have an unusual situation and need an out of the box solution but typically, the suggestions made by the "Waaaay Out of the Box Buyer" have too many variables that can go wrong and leave the seller in a huge financial mess!

The "Just A Hair Higher Guy" aka "Call Me Last Guy" ORDERS sellers to call him before accepting any other offers. "Just A Hair Higher Guy" aka "Call Me Last Guy" will come and look at your house but is AFRAID to make an offer until you call him and tell him what all of the other cash buyers offered to pay. The scared "Just A Hair Higher Guy" aka "Call Me Last Guy" may claim to only give offers on Thursday, or some other arbitrary day of the week hoping he picked a day after you have all the other buyers' offers. The terrified, "Just A Hair Higher Guy" aka "Call Me Last Guy" will make an offer just a hair higher than the seller's highest offer.

The "Just A Hair Higher Guy" aka "Call Me Last Guy" appears confident and seems to enjoy the buying process. Buying property is a hobby for "Just A Hair Higher Guy" aka "Call Me Last Guy". He typically has a spouse with a great job or is semi retired looking for something to do with his time. "Just A Hair Higher Guy" aka "Call Me Last Guy" usually has the money to purchase your house but doesn't trust his own decisions and can't bring himself to part with the cash.

When the closing date on your property nears "Just A Hair Higher Guy" aka "Call Me Last Guy" gets harder to contact. He stops taking your calls. "Just A Hair Higher Guy" aka "Call Me Last Guy" rarely has an office so it is very difficult to track him down. Afraid of his own shadow, "Just A Hair Higher Guy" aka "Call Me Last Guy" usually gets cold feet and never shows up for closing, never to be heard from again. The seller's attempt to use the other offers in order squeeze out a few extra dollars backfires and causes additional expenses. The seller is also left with the task of beginning again.

SELL YOUR HOME TO SOMEONE

who has a business registered with the Missouri Secretary of State

who seriously looks at your property - if someone isn't serious about buying your home it isn't going to take them long to view your property- they will be "flipping" it to someone else so he will just need to get the real buyer in so HE can seriously view your property

who has experience and a good reputation for closing on on properties they have contracted to buy

who has an office you can visit

who has purchased an impressive list of properties titled in their name that they have successfully rehabbed and sold